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- Sunday Signal: Google launches Gemini, the days are long but the decades are short and being tolerant of others
Sunday Signal: Google launches Gemini, the days are long but the decades are short and being tolerant of others
Hey friends đ Happy Sunday.
Hereâs your weekly dose of AI and introspection.
AI Highlights
Gemini is Googleâs most capable AI model yet competing directly against GPT-4. Itâs multimodal, meaning it can operate across and combine different types of information (text/audio/video). Whatâs more, its performance exceeds current state-of-the-art results on 30 of the 32 widely-used academic benchmarks.
Alexâs take: I wrote about the most important takeaways in a post here. However, Gemini has already faced backlash after the âjaw-droppingâ demo video turned out to be fake.
I canât help but feel this will give OpenAI the motivation (if they need any more since Sam returned) to release GPT-5 in the new year. More foundation models = a more efficient marketplace for developers.
The EU has reached an agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act. It aims to balance innovation with the protection of citizens' rights. Key points include:
Strict bans on AI for social scoring, manipulation, and exploiting vulnerabilities.
Safeguards on law enforcement's use of biometric systems, requiring judicial approval.
High-risk AI systems face stringent obligations, including fundamental rights impact assessments.
General-purpose AI systems must adhere to transparency and EU copyright laws.
Fines for non-compliance range from âŹ7.5 million to âŹ35 million or 1.5% to 7% of global turnover.
Alexâs take: The EU is once again doing all it can to stifle innovation. This time, itâs AI. The European Commissioner, Thierry Breton, posted on X âThe #AIAct is much more than a rulebook â it's a launchpad for EU startups and researchers to lead the global AI race.â
My immediate question: how many individuals in this video regularly use AI systems like ChatGPT? Iâm struggling to see how this regulation will help the EU run in the global AI race at all.
In an article from the FT, the author mentions âEuropean companies have expressed their concern that overly restrictive rules on the technology⊠will hamper innovationâ. I can already hear the frustration among European developers.
Deepgram launched Aura, a powerful text-to-speech (TTS) model built for real-time, conversational voice AI agents. This targets the customer service sector, which comprises approximately 2% of U.S. jobs.
Alexâs take: AI agents will take the world by storm. With Auraâs latency of ~150ms, it opens the door to hundreds of use cases. AI is at a unique place now where:
Voice will become the primary interface for large language models.
The evolved proficiency and reduced latency of these models now make interactions smooth and natural.
This is something I thought would take place 6 months from now. I was wrongâweâre early. And the rate of progress is only getting steeper.
1 Article I Enjoyed
In 2015, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI turned 30. He wrote a blog post on life advice heâd garnered in the decade leading up to this milestone. My favourite takeaways:
Never put your family, friends, or significant other low on your priority list.
Donât spend time trying to maintain relationships with people you donât like. Cut negative people out of your life.
How to succeed: pick the right thing to do (usually ignored), have focus and self-belief, identify and connect with talented people, and work hard.
Another gem I enjoyed: âAlways ask for what you wantâ. Iâve found the fear of asking often stems from a fear of failure. Donât shy away from what you want. Just ask.
1 Idea I Learned
Be tolerant of others and strict with yourself.
Accept that others in life may be unreliableâthatâs beyond your control.
Your responsibility lies in managing your own responses and actions.
Concentrate on your behaviour and let others handle their own.
Thereâs enough on your plate already.
Charlie Munger on his lifeâs ethos:
âYou want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end.â
To get what you want, deserve what you want. Trust, success and admiration are earned.
1 Question to Ponder
Which of my daily habits are accelerating or decelerating me?
đĄ If you enjoyed this issue, share it with a friend.
See you next week,
Alex Banks
P.S. I recently enjoyed watching The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. I think youâll like it.